From a merger of Middle High German verderben (“to perish, die”) (strong verb) and verderben (“bring ruin to, kill, damage”) (weak verb). The former is from Old High German *farderban, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fraderban, which is in turn from Proto-Germanic *derbaną (“to perish”).
verderben (class 3 strong, third-person singular present verdirbt, past tense verdarb, past participle verdorben, past subjunctive verdürbe, auxiliary haben or sein)
In most contexts, the verb has strong conjugation. However, it has weak conjugation when referring to a written document: Der Text ist verderbt – The text is corrupted. (Chiefly, only the past participle is used in this sense.) Also, in archaic German, verderbt could be used in other senses as well.
| infinitive | verderben | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | verderbend | ||||
| past participle | verdorben | ||||
| auxiliary | haben or sein | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich verderbe | wir verderben | i | ich verderbe | wir verderben |
| du verdirbst | ihr verderbt | du verderbest | ihr verderbet | ||
| er verdirbt | sie verderben | er verderbe | sie verderben | ||
| preterite | ich verdarb | wir verdarben | ii | ich verdürbe1 | wir verdürben1 |
| du verdarbst | ihr verdarbt | du verdürbest1 du verdürbst1 |
ihr verdürbet1 ihr verdürbt1 | ||
| er verdarb | sie verdarben | er verdürbe1 | sie verdürben1 | ||
| imperative | verdirb (du) | verderbt (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.